VR support 'not at launch' for Odyssey

[Captain N]

"Industry standard" sucks though. FDev would immediately have the best VR FPS on the market just by allowing VR with keyboard+mouse/controller/hotas/whatever-we-configure. It boggles my mind why the "industry" can't seem to figure this out.

It's not something that came out of nowhere. I mean, if devs could just slap a VR cam on normal WASD controlled FPS games and call it a day, they would. It would be much cheaper and easier. Any time someone tries to cheap out like this, though, the VR community throws a collective fit and absolutely blasts the devs for it. Turns out when people are used to interacting with VR environments with their own hands it's difficult for them to go back to anything less.

I find it entirely plausible this is exactly what FD is worried about. That if their VR implementation doesn't at least match that of No Man's Sky, they'll be review bombed by angry VR users accusing them of half-baking it. And from everything I've seen while interacting with various VR-related subreddits and other VR communities, you know, I do believe that yeah this is probably what would happen.

Personally I wouldn't mind a minimal implementation that uses the same controls as the flat version, but what the VR community at large expects as a standard is another thing, and there's probably not much we can do to influence that.

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

JUst in case it's not been mentioned here (I'm not reading back through 86 pages to check) VR will continue working on everything it currently does, it's only the new content it won't work on.

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The problem here is that they do not really answer the question being asked, which is "will I be able to land and drive around on atmospheric planets?" Thus, repeating the same thing over and over is not going to resolve the confusion and speculation.

 

[amigacooke]

JUst in case it's not been mentioned here (I'm not reading back through 86 pages to check) VR will continue working on everything it currently does, it's only the new content it won't work on.

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And that's the line Frontier will continue to take. It's a politician's answer, emphasising doing nothing as some sort of a plus. Elite Dangerous will move on, but not with VR support in its totality.

 

[[VR] Tanais]

The problem here is that they do not really answer the question being asked, which is "will I be able to land and drive around on atmospheric planets?" Thus, repeating the same thing over and over is not going to resolve the confusion and speculation.

I'm assuming that as atmospheric planets are part of the new Odyssey content that the answer will be no it won't work in VR. That way if it turns out that it does I'll be pleasantly surprised. I'm just happy to have confirmation that the Base game / Horizons stuff will still be VR, they had me worried for a while there.

 

[VR StarLightPL]

I'm just happy to have confirmation that the Base game / Horizons stuff will still be VR, they had me worried for a while there.

That's because CMs can't be bothered to update the OP with important but unpopular information posted by them 60 pages in

Moreover what this non answer doesn't tell you is the info we squeezed off CMs that Odyssey will not have VR at launch at all. Want to play Elite Odyssey? Take your headset off and go back to monitor. Want to fly in VR? Launch Horizons.

 

[Tenshi]

I was going to buy a new headset this year, but seeing that Odyssey isn't going to have VR support there is now no reason to get one because the Vive Pro works good enough for Horizons.

 

[VR StarLightPL]

I was going to buy a new headset this year, but seeing that Odyssey isn't going to have VR support there is now no reason to get one because the Vive Pro works good enough for Horizons.

I'd suggest getting hold of Index Controllers. They are compatible with the pro and are a huge step up from viwands.

 

[[VR] Tanais]

That's because CMs can't be bothered to update the OP with important but unpopular information posted by them 60 pages in

Moreover what this non answer doesn't tell you is the info we squeezed off CMs that Odyssey will not have VR at launch at all. Want to play Elite Odyssey? Take your headset off and go back to monitor. Want to fly in VR? Launch Horizons.

I really hope it's not a case of log out and back in to switch between Horizons and Odyssey. At the moment we can switch between VR and pancake in the graphics settings, I hope they AT LEAST keep this functionality if not improve it by allowing us to set a key bind for switching between VR and pancake.

 

[Cpt.Badger]

I really hope it's not a case of log out and back in to switch between Horizons and Odyssey. At the moment we can switch between VR and pancake in the graphics settings, I hope they AT LEAST keep this functionality if not improve it by allowing us to set a key bind for switching between VR and pancake.

F that. I ain't switching nothing in Elite. If I'm "switching" something it's switching games.

 

[VR StarLightPL]

I really hope it's not a case of log out and back in to switch between Horizons and Odyssey. At the moment we can switch between VR and pancake in the graphics settings, I hope they AT LEAST keep this functionality if not improve it by allowing us to set a key bind for switching between VR and pancake.

They told us as explicitly as politically possible that this is the case though (switching clients). "Odyssey will not be VR compatible at lauch" "VR will remain compatible with base and horizons".

 

[Zorvan]

The problem here is that they do not really answer the question being asked, which is "will I be able to land and drive around on atmospheric planets?" Thus, repeating the same thing over and over is not going to resolve the confusion and speculation.

They can't help it if some people choose to be confused, either through ignorance or obstinance.

 

[Franc Kaos]

Does anyone else think it funny that there are now a few threads cropping up calling FDev out for their lack of community engagement? I ask that in here because we are about 4000messages into the "don't yank VR" campaign and all we've had is "wow reading feed back will get back to you nearer launch", which could mean nothing clarified for another 9 months, so its not just us "boxheads" that want more engagement / communication from FDev, the "pancakes" also want more info/communication.

Well, when we were complaining about the grey planets plague it took 100 pages of complaining before Fdev deigned to respond to us so only another 12 or so pages to go and we might get a response that they're working on it but can't tell us anything yet...

 

[Viajero]

The problem here is that they do not really answer the question being asked, which is "will I be able to land and drive around on atmospheric planets?" Thus, repeating the same thing over and over is not going to resolve the confusion and speculation.

I think it does answer that question. Given atmospheric planets and the new planetary tech is new Odyssey content the answer is obviously “not at launch”.

The part that is not clear yet is if other parts of the new DLC where there may be no new content, ie flying in space, will allow VR or not, and what are the practicalities when you transition from such an area to an area with new Odyssey content.

 

[Rat Catcher]

I think it does answer that question. Given atmospheric planets and the new planetary tech is new Odyssey content the answer is obviously “not at launch”.

The part that is not clear yet is if other parts of the new DLC where there is no new content, ie flying in space, will allow VR or not, and what are the practicalities when you transition from such an area to an area with new Odyssey content.

I take the "not at launch" to refer to the whole Odyssey expansion, rather than just parts - I believe it 'safer' to follow that line of thought rather than hoping it only excluded surface content.

Until we are told otherwise by Frontier, it makes sense to me to take that simple phrase as inclusive

 

[VR Golgot]

"Industry standard" sucks though.

Industry standards are what they are. You personally not liking them doesn’t change that.

 

[VR Golgot]

JUst in case it's not been mentioned here (I'm not reading back through 86 pages to check) VR will continue working on everything it currently does, it's only the new content it won't work on.

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Although that sounds hopeful on the face of it, Support have been wrong before, and/or got their wording muddled.

That may still just mean that core/Horizons continues to have VR support. The CM announcements to date favour that interpretation. IE:

We don’t have any more details at the moment on how that split would work yet, however we’ve heard the questions and the feedback. We’ll be sharing more information closer to release.

To reiterate (it’s a long thread, things easily get lost!) you will still be able to play the base game and Horizons with VR, that isn’t changing.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

F that. I ain't switching nothing in Elite. If I'm "switching" something it's switching games.

Fortunately some other dev with a beloved franchise is bringing VR to their spaceship combat game as key feature, we can buy that instead of Odyssey, that makes it a lot easier to accept that Elite is going from a VR supported spaceship game to a pancake FPS game (at least partially). If they bring incremental improvements to Horizons, great, if not, then good bye. Either way, no revenue from me as long as Odyssey is not VR supported.

 

[VR Dextrovix]

I see another cockpit-based game coming out (Project Cars 3) is supporting VR out of the box. Whilst not space-related, it is 2020 and this developer hasn't considered VR should not be available at launch:

'Project CARS 3' Release Date Confirmed, PC VR Support Included at Launch

Project CARS 3, the upcoming sequel to the racing simulator franchise, is set to include VR support when it launches on PC this August. Update (June 24th, 2020): Slightly Mad Studios has confirmed that Project CARS 3 will be releasing on all supported platforms on August 28th, 2020. The original...

www.roadtovr.com

I'd ask Frontier what they think, but it seems neither they, or anyone from the CM team, are looking at this forum anymore.

 

[VR Dextrovix]

I really hope it's not a case of log out and back in to switch between Horizons and Odyssey. At the moment we can switch between VR and pancake in the graphics settings, I hope they AT LEAST keep this functionality if not improve it by allowing us to set a key bind for switching between VR and pancake.

As you 've not read all of our ramblings, just like having a base "Elite Dangerous" and an "Elite Dangerous Horizons" in the launcher, "Elite Dangerous Oddysey" will be a separate product in the list, because the game is getting graphical upgrades etc, so a new version of their COBRA engine. This will not have a compiled VR runtime in it, because Frontier only contracted out their VR support to a guy called Greg (I kid you not) during development originally. Unfortunately therefore, any of us would be switching between the two if we want to bother with accessing Oddysey content on a flatscreen. Which I personally, do not, hence I'm extremely upset as an original backer of ED that VR has been, apparently, dropped. And that Frontier must have lost all of the VR headsets. I'd donate my Rift, they only have to ask...

 

[Cmdr Andrew Johnson]

I’ve asked in the forums and on twitter if there is a dedicated VR team / person working on ED, never had a response.